Winds of Change
by Melodious-Nocturne3
Summary: Sometimes, it seems hopeless. Sometimes, it seems that the end has already come and nothing will ever get better. But winds of change are blowing, and everything that can and will get better is just on the horizon. You only have to look for it. ( - 50 themes - WishingDreamer5's challenge - Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden - )
1. Restoration

**A/N:**

**Disclaimer – All Kingdom Hearts and/or Final Fantasy characters, places, and/or events belong to their proper copyright holders. I am not one of them.**

**WishingDreamer5's challenge has been brought to you by Melodious-Nocturne3. Enjoy.**

**All drabbles take place in Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden.**

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_- restoration -_

* * *

_His beloved home, now covered in ink-black blobs that consumed everything and everyone in its path._

_Or at least, that's what he imagined was happening. The young teen could see the waves of destruction in his mind, crashing like a tsunami against the shores of his world._

His _world._

_The sixteen-year-old was born here, raised from childhood here… Found his first love here._

_He was not going to let go of this place._

_Even as he tore his father's old Gunblade from its mantle, he decided he was not going to go down easy. Oh, he knew he was probably going to die. But he swore to himself he would die while bringing even more down with him. That he would destroy hundreds before he finally took that last breath, despite that sheer numbers would continually replace one with two._

_Unfortunately, what he told himself now wasn't much more than a fantasy._

_He had little experience in using a sword. The teen had started taking lessons from a man in town, but only recently; it took muscles to wield a sword fit for fighting, after all, and he had regrettably grown into them just a year ago. Even worse was that his teacher hadn't started with actual technique until he could hold a sword horizontally for thirty minutes without trembling. It took him over a month to manage that feat._

_Fighting would've been suicide._

_Luckily, he was in the right place at the right time and an old pilot who had a special ship and a foul mouth saved his life._

_He, a little girl who was only a child, and another girl about his age he recognized as a helper from the local flower shop managed to escape to another world with the old pilot as his home collapsed behind them._

**. . .**

A silent Leon tugged on the end of his jacket uncomfortably at the direction his thoughts had taken him. They weren't enjoyable, even though he had returned home. Some wounds still left scars.

He looked down at Aerith, who was patting down dark earth around a bunch of flowers she had just planted at her knees. She didn't seem to mind that both her hands and her dress were getting dirty.

Seeming to sense that he was watching her, she turned to look at him. As always, Leon was struck by how her green eyes seemed to have that knowing glint in them - as if Aerith could see everything.

There was a smile. "Even for you, this is quiet. Thinking about something?"

Leon grunted noncommittally before shifting to a slightly different topic. "The changes we've made… Sometimes it feels like we'll never restore this world to its former glory." He gestured at the area around them.

They were on the top of one of the old watchtowers, where much of both the town and the surrounding wastelands were visible. Several recently created flowerbeds remained empty close by; Aerith had started her planting here only about fifteen minutes ago.

The young woman continued to smile, as if she knew what Leon had done, and returned to her work. "It doesn't need to be just like before. Hopefully, the restoration will only make it better."

The corners of Leon's mouth upturned a little at these words as he watched Aerith start on another pot of flowers.

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**A/N:**

**Total word content (of drabble itself): 560.**

**(P.S. In case you didn't notice, I have a poll on my profile that I would like my readers to answer - "If both Xion and Naminé had romantic feelings for Roxas, who do you think he should return those feelings to?" This will be very helpful for future reference, so please take a moment out of your time to click a few buttons for me. c; )**

**~ Melody**


	2. Flowers

**A/N:**

**Hope you have the stomach for time travel, because this is set a couple of years before the destruction of Radiant Garden. Enjoy. c:**

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_- flowers -_

* * *

Aerith hummed a light melody to herself as she bustled around the flower store, adjusting things so that they would look just right for the customers. After turning one of the flowerpots so that the blossoms faced a window directly in front of it, she brushed a strand of her brown hair back and glanced around the room with a smile. She had been working here for several months now. Her mother's friend owned this store, so when she had gotten old enough to be responsible, she got to work here.

One of the requirements of taking the job was to not gossip about who bought what to anyone. Aerith learned soon enough that it was because some people came to buy flowers for a sweet – but private – reason.

There was the tinkle of a bell as the door swung open.

"Excuse me."

Ah. Here was one of those people now. She recognized the young boy's face. He was a bit of a romantic, whether he realized it himself or not.

"Good morning," Aerith greeted, stepping up to the counter. "May I help you?"

"Yeah. Can I buy several of… those?"

He pointed towards one of the nicer selections, a lily with a white blossom that had pink speckled along the middle of each petal.

"Of course. Please wait a moment while I get your purchase." The young girl disappeared behind an employee door, which led to a chilled room with many different precut flowers. After gathering the ones ordered, she exited back to the counter and expertly tied them together with a white ribbon.

"Would you like anything else?" Aerith asked the boy.

He paused for a moment before shaking his head. "No, thank you."

"Then that will be 1250 munny."

The two then proceeded to exchange the munny for the lilies.

"Thank you," the boy responded politely.

Aerith nodded and smiled at him. "You're welcome. Have a nice day, Leon."

Leon looked surprised for a moment before smiling back slightly. "You too."

He left the flower store with lilies in hand, the tinkling of the bell signaling the door's opening and closing.

Peeking out of the window nearby, Aerith smiled again to see the young boy hand his purchase to a black-haired girl who had happened to walk past. The girl then hugged him in thanks.

For a moment, she thought she could see Leon blush.

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**Total word content: 398.**


	3. Ninja

**A/N:**

**I'm going to try to jump-start my writing. Expect a chapter at least every two or three days.**

* * *

_- ninja -_

* * *

Yuffie hissed as the cold metal dug into the soft flesh behind her already pulsating-with-pain knee, but she couldn't let herself move. "Cid," she muttered through gritted teeth. "Kill him."

"Don't you think that'd be a bit unnecessary?" Cid chuckled.

"Ugh, why can't Aerith be here instead?" Yuffie complained, wiggling her toes in Leon's annoyed face.

He was trying to bolt in a metal brace for her leg, since everyone who could heal it in a snap (pardon the pun) was currently not in the world. Merlin was off doing who knows what – it was common - and Aerith had taken the Gummi ship to search for any possible stragglers that had survived the destruction of Radiant Garden.

Leon would've rather gone instead of Aerith, but she assured him that he had too many duties here. Heh, right. He knew the real reason why.

"Just be quiet, will you, Yuffie?" Leon said, his irritation building. "I'm almost done."

The young girl just kept on complaining and complaining, clearly ignoring Leon. Now usually, he would understand. Yuffie's mouth tended to run when the situation was normal. But this time, she was suffering from a fractured femur bone, if his judgment could be trusted. It was unsurprising that she turned to complaints.

But Leon wasn't exactly in a good mood today, in case you couldn't tell. Even worse, his head was pounding from all of the commotion added to his unhappiness. It was almost a minute before he burst.

"Shut up, Yuffie!" he snapped, after fumbling with a bolt and seeing it roll out of his reach. "If you can't deal with the pain, why did you jump off that roof?"

She looked affronted. "I didn't just _jump off_. I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie, after all. I was practicing a flip, and then a rock appeared out of nowhere, I already told you."

Leon grunted in disbelief, but said nothing – he was already regretting his angry remark. Cid handed him back the wayward bolt, brow arched but otherwise unquestioning.

The young man crouched there, affixing the metal brace to the Great Ninja Yuffie while the others watched.

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**Total word content: 355.**

**Hopefully I wrote that in character. If not, please inform me. First time writing them usually = mistakes.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**~ Melody**


	4. Baby

**A/N:**

**Unlike other drabbles, this one will not include the specific theme word. However, it will still clearly run along those lines and synonym/s will be included. (Since none of the featured characters would ever specifically say the word "baby.")**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

_- baby -_

* * *

Threatening darkness surrounded Cloud on all sides.

Unlike most people, he had learned how to tell apart figments of the mind from reality. With a foe like his, it was a helpful ability. So he knew almost immediately that this was a dream.

He instinctively moved his hand towards where he kept the Buster Sword and felt nothing but empty air. Well, dammit.

Cloud ground his teeth in frustration and began to walk. So his subconscious apparently felt the need to make him helpless here. _What, more nightmares about...?_

His thought was finished without an ending as he came to a sudden stop. He had heard something for a moment there. _Almost like a whisper._

The young man shrugged it off. He doubted it. This was a dream out of many other similar ones. When it started, there would be screams shattering the blackness instead of whispers. They would be screams of pain, all hoarse from too many preceding it and all of the voices familiar to him.

Was it sad that Cloud had suffered so many for them to be predictable? Nevertheless, it always felt real to him, despite knowing them to be nightmares. He could never stop himself from trying to save those voices...

Again, he paused. A whisper, too quiet for him to make out. But loud enough for Cloud to tell that he hadn't imagined it the first time.

He slowly looked around as if he could see through the darkness – merely caused by habit, obviously – and crouched in readiness. Of course, Cloud remembered with despair, he had no sword.

Maybe he would be able to sense the attack and retaliate with a fist when it came.

_Don't kid yourself. You're helpless here with no sword. Hand-to-hand combat was never your thing and you know that._

_If you're lucky, maybe you'll intercept the first shot. But luck has always been against you. You've probably just brought a knife to a gunfight, figuratively speaking._

Cloud scowled at his thoughts. But slowly, inexorably, he found himself relaxing. Not out of presumed safety, but out of the sense that his thoughts...

_... might be right. You know what always happens. You fail. In these dreams, you repeatedly taste success. It's constantly there._

_But then it falls out of your reach, right when you manage to stretch your fingers towards it. And everyone dies._

_If you've never had the strength to save them in your last dreams, why would you have any strength now, much less when you're awake?_

_Face it. You're finished. Here, you are as weak as a suckling infant, and out there in the real world, you're even worse off._

_Weak... Weak... Weak..._

It repeated itself through Cloud's mind like a mantra, as if filled with an unbearable and painful truth. He fell numbly to his knees and stared at his clenched fists with glazed eyes.

_Fallen... just like a child._

_It's not the truth._ _It can't be. This... this is a dream..._ But there was a strange pressure on his heart, beckoning with a soft voice to just give up and let go. _It will be safe there... warm and comfortable,_ it seemed to say.

Cloud was tempted for a moment. His dazed mind swayed.

But then he realized.

"Sephiroth!" he shouted, his voice shattering the illusion.

**. . .**

His eyes shot open to the sight of a dark, starry night sky. It felt as if he hadn't slept a wink.

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**Total word content: 573.**


	5. Eyes

**A/N:**

**For once, it's not about FF characters. Yay ~**

**(Warning – Terra x Aqua ahead.)**

* * *

_- eyes -_

* * *

Terra let out a heavy breath as he slumped against stone.

Master Xehanort had lied to him all this time – about everything. He was conniving and devious, but it was his own fault for believing the old master. Terra had endangered Aqua's and Ven's lives because of his foolishness. His Master was already gone. He wasn't going to let an old man – albeit a powerful old man – take their lives too.

Even if it cost him his own.

There were a few kids running around the square nearby, playing tag or something. It looked like they were carrying toy weapons. Terra had hidden himself in a narrow alley; in fact, it almost qualified as a crevice. He watched them with interest for a few moments, then sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

Right now, he wished with all his heart that he and Aqua and Ven could be just like those kids. Playing around the castle and laughing without a care in the world – just like old times, when the fate of the worlds weren't at stake.

It seemed to Terra that you never know what you have until it's gone.

He got lost in the surge of memories, his eyes threatening to tear up at some of them. When he and Aqua had first trained together, when Ven had first arrived, when he woke up and eventually began to get over his amnesia... the list went on.

Thinking about the past soon led him to thoughts about Aqua.

Terra was a young man. It was almost inevitable that he would develop feelings for a woman close to the same age, especially if they lived together and fought together and ate together – they pretty much did everything together. Occasionally, he would think about her. Just... who she was. In his eyes, Aqua had grown from a shy young girl to a beautiful Keyblade wielder who fought monsters as her job and yet still maintained her lady-like manners, despite having calloused hands.

She had her faults, of course. Aqua's eyes saw everything in black and white. She hadn't learned yet – unlike Terra – that in their business, the worlds were always in shades of grey. There was no "right" choice for them... just the best one.

One of the kids had fallen on the ground, still gripping his toy sword. The others were taunting him, but the little boy refused to give in to their ulterior motive: getting him angry.

Terra watched him with approval. That child reminded him of another boy he had met, on a world made up of a couple of islands. He might've granted him the power of the Keyblade, much to his shock. Could that mean he was a Master – at least in the eyes of his blade?

But that was the least of his concerns. What he worried about was the future.

He occasionally had some strange visions. Nothing much, just a flash of something different than what was really in front of him or maybe a feeling. They usually only lasted about a few seconds. It was what had prompted his choice of Riku, the small islander boy. Terra honestly had no idea how it worked, or why it only seemed to happen to him. But now... he had a sense of dread towards what was ahead. A feeling that he wasn't going to come out alive.

Terra was disappointed in himself. There was so much more he could've done, so many mistakes to amend. But it seemed to be too late.

Either way, he had to leave for the Keyblade Graveyard.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Total word content - 599.**

**(It just has to be so easy to ramble on with Terra. n-n; And I know Nomura's apparently denied Terra's power of seeing visions, but it's such a useful plot device. I must keep it.)**

**~ Melody**


	6. Mischief

**A/N:**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, guys. n-n; I'll try to work on focusing here.**

* * *

_- mischief -_

* * *

"Master Ansem," the man said, having bowed slightly in deference. He didn't seem to be fazed by the presence of an outsider. "Regarding the experiment I presented the other day... With your permission, I'd like to proceed -"

"I forbid it!" Ansem interrupted, suddenly standing up. "Forget this talk of doors, and the heart of all worlds. That place must not be defiled!"

The man became desperate, but also suspicious. Did that stranger have something to do with his teacher's change of mind? "But Master Ansem! I've been thinking..."

He stopped once he saw the one shake of his teacher's head. There would be no point in continuing.

"Xehanort," Ansem said carefully. "Those thoughts are best forgotten."

The man looked as if he was about to continue in anger, but he composed himself in time and simply bowed again. With that, Xehanort backed away and closed the large door as he left.

**. . .**

"He said what?" Even exclaimed.

"Exactly that," Xehanort responded, arms crossed as if to hold in his anger and indignation. Unfortunately, his colleague was not as controlled.

Even threw his hands up. "We had accomplished so much, and yet Master Ansem expects us to simply throw in the towel?"

Aeleus shot a look at the usually cool and collected scientist, and he fell silent.

"Well, we cannot just continue against his wishes," Dilan pointed out. He gestured around the small conference room the six apprentices were gathered in. "This is his castle. No matter what we do, he will catch us eventually."

"Says who?" Braig remarked from his position leaning against the wall.

Ienzo, despite his youth, was intelligent enough to be part of the conversation – as well as their work. "Are you suggesting that we do just the opposite of Master Ansem's command?" he asked, one brow arched. "Did you not hear what Dilan just said?"

Braig shrugged. "We know his habits, is all I'm saying. Master Ansem – he's one predictable guy. Shouldn't be too hard to keep a few experiments from him."

Xehanort watched the half-blind man with a passable poker face. "Really, Braig? Tell me then; what do you think we should do?"

"It's simple. Just use the basement we built. He never goes down there anymore, right? Not since that time when we tried using rats. We bring in the stuff when he's out in the town, like when he's buying ice cream or something, and put in some passcode at the computer. If the old man asks about it, we can just say that we wanted to keep it locked down and tossed away the key, so to speak."

"Hmm..." Xehanort slowly nodded. "I agree. We must continue with our work. I feel as if we are close to a breakthrough..."

**. . .**

The six discussed it for quite some time before coming to a conclusion. They would continue with the project as Braig suggested, but all experiments on 'live subjects' would have to be unanimously agreed on, since disappearances in the town would cause alarm.

As they separated, Ienzo remarked uneasily to Aeleus, "Why does it feel as if this is simply childish mischief?"

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**Total word content: 526.**


	7. Cry

**A/N:**

**I have decided that for once, Aqua needs to break down. There's just so much that she's gone through, something needs to happen.**

**Takes place in my fanfic universe **_**Kingdom Hearts III: Ending Sorrows**_**, the actual story now cancelled.**

* * *

_- cry -_

* * *

Aqua cried out in shock, throwing out her hands as she landed hard onto... cobblestone?

She slowly stood up, her scraped palms forgotten as she looked around in amazement. She was free – free from that accursed place, filled with shadows. No more whispered doubts, temptations to give up hope. No more constant fighting against the darkness. Now, Aqua was truly free.

But Zack! She spun around to see the dead end of the alleyway she had found herself in. The shadowy corridor had disappeared.

"No," she whispered to herself. "No."

He had pushed her into the portal when other cloaked people like him had appeared. They had apparently tracked him, knew that he would come after her. Aqua had been their prize. But she had escaped, at the cost of leaving Zack behind.

Aqua grit her teeth. She wasn't going to give in. Not now. That stranger had told her about Sora and the battle he was fighting. Her priority was to find him. And... Terra and Ventus might be there too.

She knew that she had been isolated for a long time. But it hadn't really sunk in until Aqua saw what was outside of the alleyway.

She walked through the damaged marketplace, observing it sadly.

It was Radiant Garden – and yet it wasn't. Her memories of a beautiful, fountain-filled city with colorful flowerbeds didn't match with what she was seeing right now.

Aqua eventually reached a cliff. It led off to where she remembered a square was supposed to be. It must have been destroyed, obviously by an explosion.

"Who are you?"

Aqua turned to see a young man half-hidden by some ruins, cloaked just like Zack had been.

"Zack?" she dared to hope.

The man cocked his head. "I wouldn't think a beautiful young woman like you would be named Zack, but I guess I'm wrong." He shrugged.

"Oh, no," Aqua replied hastily, cheeks flushing pink. "Zack's the name of... one of my friends. I thought you were him. My name's Aqua."

"Joking, joking," he assured her, waving a hand. "And Aqua's a pretty name. Fits much better than Zack. But let's get to the point." The stranger's voice became serious. "The locals have stopped coming here – by accident, at any rate. There's no reason to anymore, obviously. And I don't recognize you."

"I haven't been here in such a long time. The place has changed." Aqua gestured around, choosing her words carefully. "I only remember a square here." Truth, but not all of it.

He nodded slowly, hood concealing his face. "Radiant Garden got attacked by the Heartless over ten years ago. Needless to say, it was destroyed. You haven't been here for that long?"

"Yes," she replied, crossing her arms. _Over ten years... Well, at least you have confirmation._ But the information threatened to topple her. _Gone for so long. What if Ven had woken up? He'd have grown by now. Ten years - he would look older than me. And Terra... if he's not free..._

Without warning, Aqua began to cry.

Tears silently flooded down into her arms. At least she wasn't sobbing – that would be even more embarrassing.

"Whoa," the man exclaimed, taken aback. "Are you okay?" He stepped away from the ruins and towards her, removing his hood and revealing a concerned face. Spiky red hair tumbled out.

Aqua slowly shook her head, shoulders trembling. She couldn't hold it in anymore. She had thought about it too much.

The young red-haired man watched, too afraid to try and comfort her, while Aqua continued to cry – in despair for herself, for once.

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**Total word content: 599.**


End file.
